- Michele Goldsmith, who holds an endowed chair in biology and ethics at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester.
A Southern
New Hampshire University senior who will accompany one of her professors to
Africa to study the interaction between tourists and gorillas says she was more
nervous about the shots needed for international travel than she was about
living in the wild in Uganda.
Heidi
Quigley, a communications major, will help associate professor Michele
Goldsmith with research into the effects of repeated exposure of gorillas to
tourists who spend hefty sums to visit with the primates in their habitat.
Goldsmith
is a biological anthropologist who holds the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Distinguished
Chair in Ethics and Social Responsibility. Christos Papoutsy was a successful
electronics entrepreneur who has lectured and written on entrepreneurship and
ethics.
Going to
Africa and spending three weeks among gorillas while living in a tent in
central Uganda doesn't worry Quigley.
"My
family is super-excited, my parents are so supportive of what I do. They're not
nervous about it,” Quigley said. “My friends think I'm crazy."
Goldsmith's
research concentrates not only on the impact tourism has on the gorillas, but
also on how close encounters with human's closest relatives in the animal
kingdom affects tourists.
Guided
gorilla tracking excursions have grown in popularity in the hills of Uganda.
Tourists clamor for government permits to spend an hour interacting with
gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.
The adventures
are a major source of tourism revenue for Uganda, leading to more and more
groups of gorillas being sought out for contact with more and more humans.
Goldsmith's
study concentrates on the impact the contact will have on the long-term
ecosystem that supports the gorillas.
"The
idea behind the tourism started when gorillas were being butchered, even when
they had no value to anybody,” Goldsmith said. “They were just being slaughtered.
Their hands were being made into ashtrays."
The
gorilla tourism industry has raised money to protect the animals. Goldsmith's
research examines the ecological cost.
